Immature demands?
Nawaz Sharif’s cavalier attitude to snap polls (“holding 2-4….will do no harm”) betrays some confusion on the democratic process. To dispel any such impressions, the Leaguer whips up a defense: that he is opposed to any change other than one that is brought through the ballot box. But that is setting the bar incredibly low. It is assumed that all political parties have this most basic of assumptions as a minimum common agenda. It is when this unspoken assumption is openly disputed (as the MQM does from time to time, and the PML-F, when the grand old doyen of Pakistani politics feels like a press conference) that it should merit a mention, not when it is upheld.
The people vote for their representatives under the full knowledge that their term is going to be a full five years. That is a mandate (once, the PML-N chief’s pet word) that the polity gives a government, any government. To say that an elected government is unpopular is a view anyone is entitled to have. But to say a government is unpopular enough to forfeit the mandate it won fair and square is incorrect. The polls are the only gauge of popularity that the state itself recognises; the rest can be the handiwork of those who manage to make the most noise or hog the most airwaves and newspaper headlines.
But is Sharif wholly undemocratic in his demands? He has passed a judgment on the performance of the government which he, as the effective leader of the opposition, has every right to. And the premier does have the constitutional power to give the president binding advice to dissolve the parliament.
The debate over what is democratic, democratic only in letter and downright undemocratic becomes a little hazy in nascent democracies. Our polity being a case in point. The republic sure could use a couple of fully completed democratic tenures, regardless of how bad the elected governments allegedly are. Perhaps the two-time prime minister actually realises this and such statements are mere posturing to stave off the friendly-opposition charge; perhaps he actually is being serious. There is no way of knowing for sure. But as a thought experiment, perhaps Sharif could take some time out and look at his beleaguered League’s own dwindling popularity – not just outside the Punjab – the next time the mention of snap polls comes up.
